The Man and his Fox

Truth be told, I have a bad habit of gasing up my car at the very last moment. I normally pay at the pump, it is fast and efficient but today I needed washer fluid.

I was walking into the station to pay when he pulled up in a 1980’s Volkswagen. Black. Two door. Manual transmission. I admit, I took a double take.

Is that fine-boxed-machine really gas powered?

I payed, picked up my washer-fluid.

Out at my car, I popped the hood and started filling up my empty washer-fluid. Bending over the front of my car making sure that I wasn’t spilling the fluid all over my engine I noticed out of the corner of my eye a shadow approaching.

“I hope you don’t mind,” I heard a male voice.

I could only guess it was from the man who had pulled up in his Volkswagen Fox only moments earlier. I looked up at him. He had his sunglasses pulled down to his nose and had a smile on his face. He didn’t seem so interested in me, more interested in my popped hood.

“I really like small engines and I just haven’t seen under the hood of a MINI, do you mind?” he asked.

“Sure, here it is,” I offered, pointing out the obvious.

He looked it over as I stood there awkwardly giving him commentary on how I ended up with a MINI and how I hadn’t driven or sat in a MINI until the day I picked up my car from the dealership, detailing how much I loved driving my car.

In the middle of my dialogue, he rose slightly on his tippy toes, pointed with his finger and in a high pitched voice he declared, “And it has a little TURBOCHARGER!!!”

He was beside himself in excitement!!

“Make sure you keep on top of changing the oil, that will give longevity to your Turbocharger.” He could hardly contain his delight.

“It’s also manual transmission,” I lightly added.

“REALLY!,” his voice going an octave even higher, “Manual transmission IS the only way to drive a 4-cylinder!!” He stated with certainty.